


Three Months

by Sam36y



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Chicago Fire - Freeform, Complete, F/M, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam36y/pseuds/Sam36y
Summary: Upstead - Hailey and Jay are on a stakeout that might not end well. A warehouse collapses. Will they finally confess their feelings for each other before it is too late?After 7x09/7x10
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

It was a long day at work. Hailey and Jay were on a stakeout watching drug dealer Mike Miller to try and finally catching him do a deal but he didn’t leave the house all day long and no one visited him.

They had been trying to get that guy for several days now. Jay went under as a possible buyer but Miller didn’t sell him anything and after countless hours of observation they still had nothing on him. Yet every CI and everyone they had in custody for a while told them Mike Miller’s name. The drugs he brings onto the street had killed five kids and three young adults already. 

Around four in the afternoon Miller left the house and drove away. Jay started the car and slowly followed him. He was going straight for the old warehouse.

“I don’t like where this is going. This warehouse is huge. We should wait for backup before going inside.”, Hailey said.

“Yeah. But we could lose him. If he goes inside through the south and we wait here he could easily flee from the north side.”, Jay parked the car behind the fence. 

Miller parked his car and walked in through the south entrance of the building. “We have to follow him. I’m not losing that guy now.”

Jay was already jumping out of the car and Hailey followed him. In her mind she complained about his decision.

Jay entered the building the same way Miller did. There was nothing inside. The warehouse was empty. On one side there were three little containers and opposite of those were some doors.

“Let’s search for Miller. He’s gotta be here somewhere!”, Jay said and wanted to start walking up to the first door but Hailey stopped him.

“Are you crazy? We can’t do this! We’re alone, we don’t have firearms with us except our guns. We need something heavier to go in to search!”, Hailey already had her hand on the radio.

“No! Don’t call it in! We need to get Miller here and now! He killed so many young people with his drugs I’m not letting him get another load of that stuff on the streets! And I have backup with me.”, he said and smiled at Hailey.

“Oh my god. Jay. You can’t be serious!?”

“You wanna complain now? Hailey I’m going in there now. With or without you.” Jay walked away from her and up to the first door. 

Hailey followed him. She was his partner. Lately she didn’t agree with all he did but she couldn’t let him walk into something like this alone. He wouldn’t die on her watch.

The first room was empty. When they were about to enter the second room, they heard people talking and footsteps coming from outside the south door. Hailey and Jay quickly looked at each other and hushed into the door. There was no other way to hide in this wide open and empty warehouse.

Inside the room there was a big man counting money. The three looked at each other and before the man could do anything, Jay ran and knocked him out. He didn’t want screams or gunshots now. Jay wanted to know who was just coming into the warehouse.

He leaned against the door and listened.

“Miller! Hello. Do you have what I want?”, one guy asked.

“I have everything in here. 5 kg of coke as you ordered.”, Miller answered.

A third voice asked to see the money first.

“No. That is not happening. I want my product.”, the first man demanded.

“Okay. Then come on. Let’s go in here.”, Miller said and all three man started walking.

Jay and Hailey drew their guns and pointed them at the door. They had no idea where Miller and the buyer would go now. They just hoped it wasn’t to that room.

They waited for a while but the door didn’t open.

“What are we gonna do now?”, Hailey asked.

“I have no idea…”, Jay looked around trying to think of something but was quickly interrupted by a very loud  _ boom _ .

Jay felt the wall collapsing on his right side and he got thrown against the other wall by the force of the bomb. Before Jay lost consciousness he saw the other room in between pieces of the wall: a table, a bag, three men and a silver device. For a second it looked like the world stood still. Then he only felt pain and everything went black. 

“Jay?”, he heard a voice ask. He knew the voice. He knew who it was. But what was going on? Why would someone be at his bed and wake him up?

“Jay. Wake up. Please.”, the voice was shaking. It was like she was scared. Why? He was just taking a nap.

“JAY!”, the voice now yelled at him.

Slowly reality came back to him. Pain. A lot of pain. He couldn’t move his right arm. And this headache. It was like someone was beating his head with a baseball bat. He tried to open his eyes but they were too heavy.

“Jay, please.”. Hailey. Of course. It was Hailey. He was with her. They were at the warehouse.

He tried opening his eyes again and after blinking a couple times, they stayed open. It was pure chaos. He tried not to move because he quickly realized that a piece of the wall was laying on his right arm. He turned his head towards Hailey. She was sitting next to him, holding his hand that was peeking from under the big wall piece. He couldn’t feel it. She was bloody, her face dirty from the dust.

“Jay. Thank God. I thought…”, she looked down. Hailey didn’t want to finish this sentence.

“I’m okay.”, he said weakly.

“I can see that.”, Hailey said and squeezed his trapped hand. “Did you feel this at all?”

He shook his head. He felt nothing.

“We need to get out of here. I already tried but my radio is dead. Yours is also not working.

“Can you move?”, he asked her.

“Yeah a bit.”, she answered and crawled over to him. She ripped off her jacket and laid it under his head. “Stay still, okay?”

“Hailey.”, Jay started but stopped. He didn’t know what to say. He had so many thoughts. He didn’t want to go back to the hospital. He didn’t want to have another surgery. It was three months ago. He had just started to feel normal again. Hailey wanted to tell him something at the hospital but she didn’t. It was still stuck in his head. He wanted to know so badly. He also wanted to ask how she was doing. She was bloody and looked injured, yet she was crawling around and awake longer than he had been. He was sure she was hiding the worst. He would like to do that too but he couldn’t. His arm was literally trapped under a big heavy piece of wall. Hailey wasn’t able to move it on her own.

“Jay. My watch is working. It’s been four hours. I don’t think we can make it out of here.”, Hailey told him. 

Shit. It’s not just the getting out of here, it’s also the blood flow in his arm. It’s probably been dead for hours. He knew that this could be fatal. 

“Hailey, you have to get outside and get to the car.”, he started but Hailey stopped him: “I tried to get out of here. There is no chance. Nothing. I can’t move the blocks and you weren’t conscious.” 

“Okay. Try and get me up. Use your jacket and stanch my arm with it. And then we’ll try our best to get that block off my arm.”, Jay said. 

Hailey took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to work but she tried anyways. While she carefully tied a part of her jacket around Jay’s arm, right under his shoulder, he kept staring at her. 

“What is it?”, she asked. 

“Nothing.”, he answered. 

“You’re staring at me. Get it out. What’s wrong. Are you in a lot of pain?”, she asked. 

“No. It’s not that…”, Jay started. “At the hospital… You wanted to… ah… tell me something. It’s still on my mind every day. What was it?”

“Nothing important now.”, Hailey looked away and kept on tying the jacket around his arm. She sat back and paused. She took a deep breath. 

Jay just looked at her waiting for the answer. 

“I wanted to tell you… I really hope this doesn’t change anything between us…”, she started. 

“Hailey, just tell me. We don’t even know if we’ll make it out of here alive.”, Jay said. 

“While you were in surgery I sat in the waiting room the whole time. I was in the ambulance with you. I was there with you until you woke up. And at one point Rojas talked to me… She made me realize something.”, Hailey told him. 

“Spit it out, please. I’m gonna be dead here before you’re done.”

“I’m sorry... Jay… I’m in love with you.”, she said and looked at him. His impression didn’t change at all. He kept staring at her. 

Was it the shock? Was it the pain in his arm? What was going on in his mind now? For Hailey time stood still. She didn’t know what was going on or what was going to happen.

She opened her mouth and wanted to ask him what was going on but Jay spoke first: “Me too. I wish I had more time.”

“What do you mean?” Hailey asked before noticing his eyes falling shut. “Jay?! Hey! Jay! Stay with me!”, she tapped him lightly on the cheeks but apart from a bit of fluttering eyelids there was nothing. He lost consciousness. 

“Shit!!”, Hailey yelled. “HELP!!!”

They were trapped in a collapsed building, Jay’s arm was probably already dead, Hailey was still trying to hide her pain but she was sure she was bleeding internally from getting hit in the stomach with a piece of wall. She didn’t even want to remove her shirt and look. There was no way out of there. It had been four hours. She didn’t have a way to contact the Police or Voight or the fire department. 

Gallo and his team were chilling in the fire station. Gallo was hoping for a peaceful and quiet night shift. He was exhausted from the last three nights. 

He was watching a Youtube video when the alarm went off. 

“Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambo 61. Collapsed warehouse.”, they heard in the speaker. They all ran towards the trucks, jumped into their gear and with sirens and blue lights they drove down the streets to the warehouse. 

“Isn’t that Halstead’s car?”, Silvie asked Forster while she parked the ambulance. 

“I think so!”, Forster answered and jumped out of the car. 

Chief Boden pulled up and Silvie ran towards him. “It’s Jay Halstead’s car! We should call Voight!”

“Squad 3! Any survivors?”, he asked through the radio. 

“Not yet, sir. I don’t think we have any.” Kelly answered. 

“I’ll call Voight.” 

Voight was there within minutes. “Chief!”, he practically jumped out of the car. 

It was the middle of the night by now. Squad 3 kept searching but had had no luck so far. 

“Where are Halstead and Upton?”, Voight asked Boden. 

“I don’t know. Were they in the building?”

“Both were in a stakeout and they only informed me that they were following the target. That was about six hours ago.” 

Chief Boden asked again if they found someone. 

“Sorry Chief. I don’t think there is anyone here and if there is, they are not alive anymore.”, Kelly answered.

“WAIT!”, Casey yelled through the radio. “Gallo found something! We need help here! South corner!” 

Every firefighter quickly ran to help. 

“Help!”, a woman’s voice was heard quietly. 

“WE HAVE SOMEONE ALIVE UNDER HERE!”, Kelly and his team quickly worked on getting big pieces of wall away from the ground. 

“Help us!”, she said again. 

“Fire Department, call out!”

“Here! Help!”

“How are you? Can you move?”, Kelly asked. 

“No. Jay is stuck and unconscious.”

“Hailey?”

“Help us!” 

They worked quickly to get as much stone away as possible and to get a small tunnel to get both out of there. 

After about 15 minutes of hard work they were finally through. 

Hailey crawled out, crying. “His arm is trapped under a big stone. We couldn’t move it. He was awake for a while but mostly unconscious. Please save him!”, she said. 

“Hailey! Let’s get you to Med.”, Silvie was at her side with a stretcher. 

“No! I need to stay with Jay!”, she said and before Silvie could react Hailey’s eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed on the ground. 

“Shit.”, Silvie worked quickly with the help of Forster to get her onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. 

“Severide! A little help here.”, Casey already put a c-collar on Halstead and tried to get his arm free. 

“How is he even alive?”, Kelly asked himself quietly while helping Casey. 

The two of them quickly removed the stone and got him out of there. 

“He is barely alive.”, Severide said with a sad voice. He always liked him. 

Voight stood there and could only watch. Three months ago he watched Halstead get shot in the chest. He saw how broken Hailey was and how the whole team was distracted. Now it happened again. He was going to kill Halstead himself if he saw him again. It was only supposed to be a stakeout. No one was supposed to go inside or get hurt. 

“We found three dead bodies and a device that looks like a bomb. We believe it was in a bag. We found pieces of fabric on it.”, Severide walked up to Voight. “That is your part now, Sergeant.” 

“I’m sorry, what did you say? A bomb? This was supposed to be a drug deal?”, Voight was confused. 

“Well I guess someone didn’t like either the dealer or the buyer.”, Kelly said and gave him a plastic bag with evidence in it. 

Voight called his team and summoned them to the Bullpen. 

Voight was already there when Adam and Kevin came upstairs. 

“What is going on, Sarg?”, Adam asked in a tired voice. 

“You know it’s almost midnight.”, Kev added. 

“We got a case!”, Voight said and decorated the board with pictures of the warehouse and the evidence he already had. 

“Platt is with Hailey and Jay at the hospital. Both were on a stakeout, watching Miller. Miller and three other men got killed with a bomb in the warehouse. Hailey and Jay were sadly in there too. Both are critical.”

“What?”

“Oh shit!”

“What are we doing here then?”, Rojas asked while she was walking up the stairs. 

“This was supposed to be a drug deal. Why was there a bomb? Was it from Miller or the buyer? We need to work.”, Voight said and wanted to walk into his buero but Adam stopped him. “Sergeant! What is going on? We need to be with Halstead and Hailey! We can work tomorrow.”

“NO! Jay almost died only three months ago!! I won’t let this happen again! This time it’s Hailey too! We need to get the son of a bitch that did this! I want him in the cage downstairs!”, Voight yelled back angrily. 

“Okay. But wasn’t everyone else killed?”, Kevin asked carefully.

“I don’t care! Maybe this was someone else! Find it out!”, Voight yelled and slammed the door shut behind him. 

The three colleagues looked at each other and got to work. Everyone was exhausted and tired and worried about Jay and Hailey but their boss wanted them to work, so they did. 

Platt sat in the waiting room of the ER and waited for Mouch to get there. He was still at the scene of the collapsed warehouse. Voight had called her to go and look out for Jay and Hailey. Only three months before she had been waiting at the precinct for news on Jay and now she was there waiting. It felt horrible. She never had to do this so soon after the first time. She liked Halstead. She had worked with him for a long time now and no matter what, he was there. Hailey, she had only known her for three years but she really liked the woman. Both were so good for each other. She saw Erin and Jay together and somehow always thought that they wouldn’t last forever. Now she saw how Jay looked at Hailey and how Hailey looked at Jay and it was beautiful. Young love. Yet they never confessed it to each other. 

Everyone always thought Trudy wouldn’t know what was going on upstairs but she knew. It was her precinct. She knew everything. Voices travel easily in the building. She knew that Hailey loved Jay. After Jay was shot she hoped every day that both would walk out of the police station holding hands but it never happened. 

“Trudy Platt?”, Will Halstead walked up to her. 

“Yes?”, she stood up and looked at him. “You must be Will Halstead. You’d never think you’re Jay’s brother. That red hair.”

“Okay. Yeah. Ehm-”

“What’s with Upton and Jay?”

“Hailey Upton is stable and just wheeled into the OR for emergency surgery. She has internal bleeding in her abdomen and it is possible the liver is injured.” 

“But she is going to be okay, right?”

“We believe so, yes.”

“And Jay?”

Will stopped and took a deep breath. “His arm… it was crushed under a stone. His Ulna and Radius are broken and we need to put the bones back together with screws and a metal plate… Limbs can survive without proper blood flow for six to eight hours. If we’re lucky we can save the part above the elbow. Hailey stanching off the blood could have saved his arm. He was rushed straight to the OR. We will try everything possible to save him and his arm. Otherwise he seems fine. A few cuts and bruises here and there, nothing severe.”

“Oh god…”, Trudy sat down in disbelieve. Jay was shot and now this. That man has no luck. 

“Trudy… I think it’s best if everyone goes home. The surgeries will take a very long time. It’s already almost one in the morning. Go home. I will call either you or Voight as soon as one of them is out of surgery and awake.”, Will said. 

“Yeah that is probably the best. Thanks, Will.” 

Trudy went outside and Mouch was there within a few minutes to pick her up and both drove home. 


	2. Chapter 2

Voight was in his office, thinking, trying to figure out what had just happened. Trudy called him and told him what Will had said. He was just about to get a glass of Whiskey when Atwater knocked on the door. He waved him inside. 

“We found something. Forensic found prints on the parts of the bomb. One set of prints was from the dead man and another set of prints came from Oliver Williams. He’s in the system for possession and accusation of building bombs.”, Atwater said. 

“Current address?”

“Sadly none but we got a phone number. Adam is tracking it as we speak.”

“Okay. When we have something we go in hot.”

“Copy that, sir.”, Kevin paused and before walking out of the room he asked: “Any news on Upton and Jay?”

Voight only answered: “They are in surgery.”

Half an hour later Atwater entered Voight’s office with an address. 

“Let’s go!”

The team got ready and packed in the long guns. It was just a small family home but you could never know. 

It was 2:30 in the morning. The streets were empty in this residential neighborhood. Voight and Adam parked their cars on the side of the street right in front of the house of Oliver Williams. 

The house was dark. There were no lights inside. Voight and Rojas walked up the front while Adam and Kevin walked behind the house. 

“The backdoor is unlocked.”, Adam said into his radio. 

“Breech. Careful for any traps. We don’t know if there might be something.”, Voight answered. 

Adam walked inside carefully and cleared the downstairs. He let Voight and Rojas inside and pointed upstairs. 

They cleared all rooms and ended with the bedroom. 

Atwater carefully opened the door. Williams was sleeping peacefully in his bed. Voight walked up to him, pushed his hand over Oliver’s mouth and said: “You’re coming with me now.” 

Oliver wanted to scream but couldn’t. He tried to grip his nightstand but Voight turned him around and handcuffed him. “Let’s go.” 

“Can I at least get a blanket?”, Oliver asked. He was sitting handcuffed in the cold cage in his PJs - just thin trousers and a T-shirt. 

“Not before you answer my question.”, Voight said and walked inside the cage. 

“I don’t have to answer anything. I didn’t do anything wrong.”, Oliver said. 

“Yeah. Sure. And what about the bomb that just killed three men and injured two of my officers?”

“Bomb? What? I didn’t do anything!”

“And how do you explain your prints on the bomb we found at the scene?”

“I want a lawyer.”

“Oh, so you did do something. You know my people are searching your house top to bottom at this very moment. If they find anything, you’re gonna wish you were dead before I start with you!” Voight was ready to punch the other man in the face but he was stopped by his ringing phone. He stepped outside and answered. 

“His whole basement is full with building parts.”, Adam said. 

Voight hung up and walked back into the cage. “Want to explain your basement?” 

“No.” 

Voight punched him in the face. 

“I’m not telling you anything.” Oliver said and spit blood on the floor. 

“If we figure out that the parts in your basement match the bomb at the warehouse you’re dead!” Voight walked out of the cage and went upstairs. 

Rojas was on the PC filling out a report. 

“Any news?”, Voight asked walking by her. 

“They are just cataloging everything in the basement and then cross-matching it with the stuff they found at the warehouse. They just identified Millers body.”, Rojas answered. 

“Good. Go home.”

“What?”

“It’s four in the morning. We won’t get more news tonight. Just go home and sleep.”, Voight said, went to his office and locked the door. 

_ He seems weird _ , Rojas thought but finished the report quickly and left to go home. 

_ Beep. Beep. Beep. _

She heard a steady rhythm. Everything was still black. She felt some clip on her finger before she felt the pain in her stomach. 

She groaned while opening her eyes. Dim light blinded her for a moment but she quickly got used to it. She looked around. She was alone. In a white, sterile hospital room. 

She was tired. Exhausted. What day was it? How long was she out? What exactly happened? She remembered the stakeout, the warehouse and the bomb. She knew she wasn’t alone. 

Jay. 

The steady beeping got faster and she abruptly had trouble breathing. Suddenly there was the sound of a small alarm. Within seconds Will Halstead stood in front of her. 

“Hailey.”, Will smiled and checked her vitals. “You have to calm down. You’re in the hospital. Are you in any pain?”

“Jay! Where is he? Is he alive?”, Hailey asked. 

“You have to calm down first!”, He put a nasal cannula on her. Her oxygen was low. 

A tear rolled down her cheek. “Please.”, she said quietly. She was scared. 

Will sat on a chair next to her bed. “I’ll tell you. But first you have to answer a few questions. I want to know if you’re all fine, okay?”

Hailey looked at him and nodded. 

“Great. Are you in any pain?”, he started. 

“No. Just sore and exhausted.”

“That is normal. You were in surgery for six hours. We were able to stop the internal bleeding. We had to remove a small piece of your liver but it’ll grow back and regenerate to normal size within a few months so you shouldn’t have any problems there.”, Will told. 

Hailey listened but waited for the next question. 

“Okay. Do you remember what happened?”, he asked. 

“Yeah. Everything. Even the ride in the ambulance. I think Silvie said something about Jay but that was it.”, Hailey answered. 

“Okay. Good. You have a slight concussion and a sprained ankle, too.”

“I get it. Can we get to Jay now? Is he alive?”, Hailey asked. 

“Jay… He is. But…”, Will paused. It was hard for himself. It’s his brother he was talking about. “Two bones in his right arm are broken… it took a very long time to repair them. He will need at least two more surgeries. He’s in a coma right now.”

“How long?”

“The surgery? It ended about an hour ago. His body couldn’t handle it anymore and they had to stop it for the day. It was 13 hours.”

“Can you save him?”

“Jay will survive if he doesn’t develop a sepsis but the arm… we don’t know.”, Will said. He was sad. 

“I want to see him.”

“You can’t. I’m sorry. Even I haven’t seen him yet. He got moved into an ICU room about 20 minutes ago and all I know is that he’s in a coma. We hope he is stable enough to do the second surgery by tomorrow. It’s gonna be hard, though.”

“Will…”

“Yes?”

“Before he lost consciousness… he asked me what I wanted to tell him three months ago at the hospital.”

“You finally told him?”

“I told him that I love him and then he said ‘Me too. I wish I had more time.’ It broke my heart. I thought he was going to die on me in there. We didn’t agree on everything the past few months and became distant a little bit but deep down there was always that nice feeling. I love him. I never want to leave him… I can’t live without him.”, Hailey started crying. 

“He’s my brother. I don’t want to lose him either. I understand you. Please calm down. Rest more. I’ll call Voight tomorrow morning. It’s late.”, Will said. “Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you, Will.”

He quickly gave her a pack of tissues and left the room. 

Hailey was alone again. Alone with all the thoughts about Jay. Her mind kept replaying the last moment she talked to Jay, finally telling him she loves him. And now she didn’t know when and if she would ever see him again. 

She cried herself to sleep that night. 

In the morning Voight got a call from Will. He told Voight to get to the hospital. Rojas should get clothes for Hailey and maybe a book or something she can do while being there. 

At the hospital, Will told Voight and the rest of the team everything about Hailey and Jay’s conditions. 

Voight was allowed to see Hailey for a moment. Jay was not allowed any visitors. Police or not, he was under 24/7 monitoring and observation and they needed him to sleep and rest as much as possible. His next surgery was already scheduled for that night. 

“Hailey.”, Voight entered her room. She was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were red and watery. 

“Voight, hey.”, she greeted him with a rough voice. 

_ Was she crying so much or was her throat injured? _ Voight thought. 

“How are you feeling?”, he asked, putting a bag with comfortable clothes and hygiene stuff on the chair in the corner. 

“Alright.”, she answered. 

“You know you don’t have to hide anything from me, right?”, Voight sat on the chair next to her. She was still staring at the ceiling. He’d never seen her like this. 

“I’m fine. I want to be alone.”

“Hailey…”

“Please.”, she looked at her boss and tears came streaming down her face again. “They won’t even let me see him. I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“I’m gonna send you Dr. Charles in. He’s the best psychiatrist. He can help you.”, Voight got up and left the room. It broke his heart to have two of his best officers injured. He didn’t want to tell her that no one was allowed to see Jay at the moment. He didn't want her to know any more bad things. What she had already been through was enough. She needed rest. 

Voight went back to the precinct. When he walked upstairs, Ruzek came to him with good news. 

“We found a match! The parts from the basement are the same as the ones found at the scene! Now we only need to get him to confess why he did that. We have the evidence. He’ll be in prison for a long time.”, Adam told Voight and handed him a file. 

“Good. Is he still downstairs in the cage?”

“Yes.”, Adam answered and followed Voight downstairs. 

Voight slammed the file on the table. Oliver startled. Voight opened the cage door and walked inside. 

“Ruzek, you can leave now.”, Voight said, staring at Oliver. 

“I better stay. We need him alive.”

“Go!”, Voight told him again and Adam knew he should really leave. He walked upstairs again and closed the door behind him. 

“What did he mean with ‘you need me alive’?”, Oliver asked.

“Confess everything and you’ll stay alive.”, Voight said. 

Adam heard screams from downstairs. Soon Voight wouldbe up there and tell him he had everything he wanted to know. 

Trudy walked into the Bullpen and looked at Adam and Atwater. 

“What’s wrong, Platt?”, Atwater asked. She looked pale. 

“Will Halstead just called. They just wheeled Jay into an emergency surgery. He’s not doing well.”, Trudy said. 

“Shit…”, Atwater walked up to Trudy and hugged her. 

“It’s so hard because we can’t do anything.”, Trudy said. 

“I know. Maybe we need to visit Hailey. See how she is doing.”, Adam suggested.

“Will said she is not in a good place right now. She’s been talking to Dr. Charles all morning.”, Trudy answered. 

“Of course she’s not. She is injured and almost losing her partner right now.”, Adam said. 

“Well… Actually it’s because she loves Jay. Sorry Adam but have you seen how she looks at him?”, Atwater confessed. 

“Yeah.. I’ve seen that. I know she does.”, Adam said. “I just want her to be happy and I think she and Jay fit. He can make her happy.”

“Okay before we get all sentimental here, let’s visit Hailey.”, Trudy said but was interrupted by Voight walking in. 

“I have everything we need.”, Voight said while cleaning the blood of his hands. 

“What did he say?”, Kevin asked. 

“He built the bomb. The buyer, Mike Kowalski ordered it from him. He wanted to leave the bomb with Miller and get away with the drugs but that went southways. The bomb was supposed to explode when Kowalski was long gone. Oliver Williams hid the bomb under the money.”, Voight said. 

“Okay, so we have him for murder and attempted murder of two police officers.”, Adam stated. 

Voight nodded. “Everyone, go home. I’ll fill out the report. We’re done here for today. Trudy. I want you to go see Hailey.”

“Hank. Will Halstead just called. Jay is in emergency surgery and Hailey is talking to Dr. Charles… It doesn’t look good.”, Trudy said. 

Voight slammed his fist into a desk and yelled: “This was supposed to be a drug deal! Jay and Hailey were supposed to just watch Miller! ARGH! I can’t lose my best guy!”

Atwater and Adam looked at each other. Did they really just hear that Jay was better than them? Maybe it was true. Both didn’t want to think about that right now. Jay was still dying at the hospital. 

Trudy walked up to Voight and put both hands on his shoulders. “I think everyone here needs a day off. You need to calm down, Hank! I’ll write your report. Everyone out of here! Let’s get home!”

Trudy closed the Bullpen off after finishing the reports. She went home after that. It was already late and she put a note on her place saying she’d come in late tomorrow. The first thing she'd do in the morning was visit Hailey and see how Jay was doing. 

She woke up feeling down. The last two days had been hard for her too. She kissed Mouch goodbye and drove to the hospital. 

In there she was greeted by Maggie. “Good morning, Trudy! How are you?”

“Good morning, Maggie. I’m alright. The last few days were just hard. Can I see Hailey Upton?”, Trudy answered. 

“Of course you can.”, Maggie started. “You want to hear good news?”

“If you have some, yes please.”

“Jay is doing better. He was in surgery all night but there is new hope that we can save his arm fully.”, Maggie smiled.

“That is fantastic! I assume we still can’t visit him?”

“Sadly not right now. Maybe later today! Come back after shift if you want. He is still in a medically induced coma but the doctors are confident that he can make it.”

“Has anyone told Hailey?”

“Not yet. She has been asking for news on Jay all the time. Now we finally have some! Dr. Charles said he’d be talking to her about this.”

“Okay. Can I still see her?”

“Sure! Follow me.”, Maggie said.

Maggie led her to Hailey’s room. Dr. Charles was talking with her so Trudy waited outside the room, watching through the glass doors. 

Dr. Charles noticed her standing outside, finished his sentence and walked out. He closed the door behind him. 

“Good morning, Officer Platt. She just heard the news about Detective Halstead. You can go in now.”, Dr. Charles said. 

“Thank you.”, Platt opened the door and stepped inside. 

Hailey looked at her, smiling. “Good morning, Trudy! It’s so nice to see you.”

“Good morning, Hailey. How are you feeling?”, Trudy sat next to her bed. Hailey looked a little pale but overall she looked good. The big cut on her forehead was sewn shut and healing nicely. Everything else was covered with the blanket. 

“I’m alright.”, Hailey answered. 

“You don’t look alright.”, Trudy said. 

“Well all I can think about is Jay and the explosion. It was so painful and everything happened so quickly. I didn’t want to go in the warehouse but Jay didn’t want to lose Miller. When the bomb exploded, all I saw was Jay getting hit with that huge stone. It was like I was just standing there and the wall and Jay flew by and it looked so horrible and then when I woke up… I tried everything to get out or get a hold of you or Voight. And then I realized that Jay was unconscious next to me and he looked bad… I took his hand and hoped for a reaction but there was nothing. I tried everything to wake him up but that didn’t working either. I was so scared that he was already… gone…”, Hailey said. 

“Hailey. I understand. It’s hard. But you just heard Dr. Charles. Jay is doing better.”, Trudy felt horrible. It was really hard listening to her. 

“I just want to see him…”

“I don’t think that is a good idea.”

“Why? Have you seen him? How is he?”

“Hailey… He is not allowed visitors right now. Not Voight, not me… Jay is…”

“...alone.” Hailey finished Trudy’s sentence. 

In the late evening, Hailey was alone in her room. Trudy left because she had to go to work. Hailey had told her that she didn’t want any more visitors that day and that Trudy should tell the team. Hailey just wanted to be alone. 

She watched Will standing outside of her room talking to a nurse. Then he entered her room.    
“Hailey. How are you feeling?”, he asked and checked her vitals. 

“I’m sick of people asking me this question.”

“I understand. Do you feel comfortable enough to get into the wheelchair?”, Will smiled. 

“You want me to go outside now? Take me for a walk? I don’t want that.”

“Okay. Hailey. Get in!”, Will pushed the wheelchair next to her bed.

“Why? I just told you…”

“...Hailey stop melting in pity and get in! We just want to help you.” 

Hailey realized what she was doing. This was wrong. She felt sorry for her behavior. 

Will helped her into the wheelchair. She groaned while moving but the pain was acceptable. 

“Sorry.”, she said. Will just smiled and pushed her out of the room and down a long hallway. 

“Where are we going? Do I have some tests to do?”, Hailey asked.

“You’ll see.”, Will just said. 

They stopped before the ICU. Hailey realized where they were going.

“Hailey. I want to warn you. He is not awake yet. He is intubated and his arm…”, Will started. 

“I get it. He looks horrible. I’ve seen it. Please. Let me get to him.”

“Of course.”, Will wheeled her into the ICU and to Jay’s room. 

Will waited before getting her inside. Hailey caught a glimpse of him through the windows. He really looked terrible. Hailey told Will to finally get her inside. 

He pushed her next to his bed and told her he’d be in the next room. 

Hailey looked at Jay. It was horrible. The breathing tube and the fixation covered his whole mouth area. His nose had a cut on it, a big white bandage covered his forehead. His left eye was swollen and black. His right arm was propped up and heavily bandaged and in a cast. Tubes filled with blood were coming from under the cast. His IV line was on his neck with two on it at the moment. The monitor gave a steady slow beeping from itself. Every time the ventilator pushed fresh air into Jay’s lungs it made a hissing sound. It looked worse than in the warehouse.

“Jay…”, Hailey said quietly. She just stared at him.    
“I don’t know if you can hear me but I believe you do... I should have told you earlier. I love you, Jay Halstead. From the moment I met you I trusted you with my life. Being with Adam was a mistake. My heart always wanted you. When Voight paired me with Vanessa I was sitting at home being sad because I didn’t get to work with you for a while. When you were shot… three months ago… I should have told you but you had Angela on your mind. It felt like the wrong moment. At least there you were awake after the surgery. I’m so terribly sorry… I should have stopped you from going into that warehouse. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.

Please come back to me.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Trigger warning!]   
> sorry for the time jumping in this chapter.

Jay’s eyes fluttered open. He groaned as the bright light blinded him. He looked around and his heart began to race as he realized where he was. His breathing quickened as he started tearing off his blanket and reached to pull out the IV on his neck.

_ I hate hospitals. _

He ignored the blood dripping down from his neck as well as the loud and rapid beeping coming from the heart monitor. Jay began to sit upright and just as he wanted to leave his bed Will rushed inside. 

“JAY! What are you doing?”, Will rushed to his side and carefully tried to push him back down but his brother resisted. 

“I don’t want to be here.”, Jay started crying. 

_ Maybe it was because of the pain, maybe it was because of his fear of hospitals,  _ Will thought. Will took a gauze and pressed it onto his bleeding neck. 

“It’s okay Jay. I’m here. You’ve been here for four days now. No one wants to hurt you. We just want to help you get better.”, Will said calmly. “Also I need to stitch that up. Don’t ever just pull out your IV again.” 

Both just sat there for a moment until Jay calmed down. 

“I’m sorry.”, Jay said. 

“It’s alright. Will you let me stitch you up and tell you how you are?”

Jay just nodded. He laid back down and Will readjusted the arm and checked to see if any stitches had opened up. Luckily Will only had to stitch up his neck and set a new central venous access. 

“Can’t you do that via needles in my arm or something similar? That thing on my neck was annoying.”

“Jay?”, Will asked in confusion.  _ How did he feel the IV access on his neck? _

“What?”

“You were in a coma for four days.”

“I was?”, Jay looked at him with big eyes. “But I was here all the time. I heard you talking. I… I even felt everything while you guys operated on my arm… There were three surgeries, right?”

“Oh my god, Jay…”, Will was shocked. He didn’t think his brother would have intraoperative awareness. 

“Don’t ask me if I’m alright. You know I hate hospitals. The moment the bomb went off I just wanted to die… I didn’t want to be in here again. It was already enough being in here for a couple days three months ago…”

“Jay you can’t say that! Do you know how Hailey feels? How she is? She didn’t wanna talk to anybody the first two days because we wouldn’t let her see you. She was so scared you might not make it.”, Will said with an angry tone.

“She didn’t want to go in the warehouse… I yelled at her that if she didn’t want to go inside she should leave me and I’d go in alone… I should have listened to her…”

“I don’t know much about your work but next time she tells you not to go inside or to do something in a different way; DO IT! Listen to her for God’s sake! You’re not at war anymore! You’re at home and it’s not about life or death, it’s about living! You have friends here that care about you and want you to be alright and healthy! Dammit Jay, do we need to tell you everything? Hailey’s in love with you! You love her! We all see that! Now take that chance! Build a life here! Be happy together!”

“It’s not that simple, Will.”

“Yes, Jay! Yes it is!”, Will yelled at his brother.

Both went on without saying anything to each other anymore. Will stitched up his brother and put his IV on his uninjured arm. Will carefully looked at the injured arm. It looked good giving the circumstances. 

Before leaving the room Will asked if it was alright to bring Hailey there now that he was finally awake. 

“Not now, please.”, Jay said. 

Will walked to Hailey. She was doing really good and was supposed to be released from the hospital the next day. Will entered her room. 

“Hi Will. What tests do you want to do now?”, Hailey asked smiling. 

“No tests this time. I have news.”, Will said and sat next to her bed. 

“News? Is Jay alright?”

“He woke up.”

“What? Didn’t you say it might still take a couple days?”

“Yeah… I just heard the alarm and when I walked in he was sitting on his bed and he wanted to leave. You know he hates hospitals.”, Will said. 

“But is he alright?”

“Yes. He’s doing fine. I think he just needs a moment for himself.” 

“I want to see him right now.”

“I thought so.”, Will smiled. “Come with me.” 

Before they got to his room Will warned her that he really wanted to be alone at the moment and that Will actually just wanted to help his brother then. 

“It’s alright. I can handle him.”, she said and entered his room. 

“Hailey.”, Jay said. 

Hailey looked at him for a moment. He was awake, he looked better than the day before. She was so happy to see his beautiful eyes again. She smiled at him and sat down on the chair next to his bed. 

“Please just…”, Jays started but Hailey interrupted him. 

“I’m not leaving you alone. You need me now! It’s the thing that works between us. Jay, I don’t know if you remember anything after the explosion…”

“Hailey stop. I remember everything. Not just the bombing or you telling me that you love me. I remember the ambulance ride, the surgeries, the talking in this room… I noticed everything…”, Jay said. Hailey saw that he was a bit annoyed and exhausted. He really wanted to be alone this time. She’d never seen him like this before. 

“We gotta talk about this sooner or later, you know. I’ve been hiding feelings for you for far too long now.”, she said. 

“How are you doing, Hailey? Are you okay? How bad are your injuries?”, he deflected. 

“I’m alright. Some internal bleeding but it was quickly fixed. I was constantly worried about you, though. How do you feel? You look exhausted.”

“I don’t know… I’ve been through so much pain in the last few days and I just want it to be over. Will said my arm looks good considering that the bones are badly broken and they were able to save it. I heard them talk while operating on me… They were really close to taking the arm off…”, Jay said. 

“Yes… I heard that. Will told me everything. I needed to know. Also I saw your arm… when it was under the stone… I thought it was already gone. I’m so happy for you that it’s all gonna be fine!”

“Do you think we can just go back to normal after this?”, Jay asked. 

“Why not? You just got to be with someone that can help you. I talked to Dr. Charles a lot and I think you need to do the same. You even need it more than I do.” 

“It was just three months ago…”

“I know, Jay. And we can make it through everything if you just let me help you. I will always be there for you.”

“Thank you. I’m grateful to have you.”, Jay said and smiled for the first time that week. 

Hailey was released from the hospital the next morning. She quickly said goodbye to Jay and left. Will told her to stay at home for the week and then at least two weeks of desk duty. Before walking out of the hospital she didn’t even know what to do now. She was about to call a cab when she saw Trudy Platt standing outside. 

“Miss Upton, please follow me to the car.”, Trudy joked and hugged her. 

“Hi Sargent. Thank you for picking me up.” 

“You’re welcome. You want me to drive you home or back to the station?”

“I think I’m gonna go home for now.”

“Okay. Get in.”, Trudy started the car and drove. 

“You know that is not where I live, right?”, Hailey said after Trudy drove in the wrong direction. 

“Yeah I know that.”, she just smiled. 

“Okay. Then I guess I’m not going home now.”

“Nope.” 

Moments later Trudy pulled up by the police station.

“Really?”, Hailey asked. 

“Just get inside.”

Hailey opened the door and was surprised by a big ‘Welcome back’ banner and the whole district and fire department standing there cheering at her. 

“Oh my God, guys! Thank you!”, she said and Vanessa came up to her hugging her. Adam did so too. 

“Great you’re back!”, Atwater hugged her. 

“I was only gone for a week.”, Hailey said. She was happy to get such a nice welcome but in her mind was just one person: Jay. He was still at the hospital and Will said he might have to stay another week. Jay hated it so much. He was already devastated the previous day after waking up. 

“Thank you all for this!”, Hailey started. “Ehm… I’d just really like to get home right now. Sorry for breaking up this party before it even started…”

“It’s alright! Let’s get you home.”, Trudy said. 

In the car Hailey apologised a couple more times to Trudy. “I’m sorry. I just want to be at home now.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to apologise so often. I get it. How is Jay?”

“Better, I think.”

“And what about you?”

“I’m good.”

“I mean what’s with you and Jay?”

“What?”

“I know you are in love with each other and I really hope you finally told him!”

“Oh God. Yes I did tell him. Back in the collapsed warehouse… I told him yesterday that we definitely need to talk about this once he is better. I don’t know if he is up for a relationship or anything. I think he just needs to heal and be back to normal before I can get through to him…”

“I understand that. I really hope it works out with you two. Seeing how you look at each other…”, Trudy stared out of the windshield lost in thought. 

Hailey just smiled. “Yeah. It would be nice if it works out. We’ll see.”

Hailey got out and went home. 

“Good morning, Jay.”, Will entered his room. 

“Good morning.”

“How are we feeling today?”, Will asked and looked at all his brothers stats. 

“Perfect. Can I go home now?”

“Jay…”

“What? It’s been a week already! I’m bored and I want to go home!”

“A week since you woke up… Jay I can’t let you go home. Look, with that arm you’d need help and I have a 48 hours shift now. I can’t take you with me. It’s better that you stay here for the rest of the week.”

“But it’s only Tuesday! I can take care of myself.”

“No.”

“Then call Hailey.”

“Doesn’t she have to work again?”

“Maybe. But she can help me. And I’m not a little kid. I can stay home alone for a couple of hours. Look, Will, I’m alright. Please I need to get out of this hospital or I’m going to kill myself in here.”

“Stop joking around! This is not funny.”

“Come on, you’re the same! I heard that after the car accident a while ago you didn’t even let them check you out.”

“That’s different. I’m a doctor. You just go home and do some stupid stuff and one week later I have you laying here again.”

“No! I don’t wanna be here any minute longer.”

“Okay. Look, I’m gonna send someone to check on you later and if everything is alright I’m gonna call Hailey to pick you up. With one condition: if anything happens with your arm, if you feel numbness or any slight pain, you call or come here immediately!”

“Alright. Deal.”, Jay said. 

Later that day Hailey stood in front of Jay’s hospital room and felt a sense of déjà vu. Only three months ago she picked up Jay from there. He was shot in the chest and now it was the arm. She looked inside through the glass door. Jay was sitting on the bed with his arm in a sling. He tried to get his shoes on but tying shoes with one hand looked impossible. 

She walked inside. “Hi. You want me to help you?”, she asked. 

“Yeah please.”, he answered. 

Hailey knew that everyone else would get yelled at by him saying he could do it himself. She quickly tied his shoes and he got up. 

“Thanks.”

“Let’s get home.”, she said. 

Both walked out and after signing some last papers Jay was finally able to go home. He jumped into Hailey’s car and she drove away. 

“Why are we stopping at your house?”, Jay asked as Hailey parked her car. 

“Well I’m with Will. I’m not letting you alone. Plus we need to talk, remember. You’re living with me until you’re better. I have a spare room.”, Hailey said. 

“You’re forcing it too much. I’m okay. I can take care of myself. Nobody ever needs to listen to my brother when it comes to me.”, Jay said. He was annoyed that he couldn’t get to his own home. 

“Okay, listen up. I saw you almost dying twice in only three months and I’m sick of this! I need to know that you’re safe! I can’t live with the constant fear of losing you as soon as you step outside. I know you want to be all tough right now but you are injured, you need help and most importantly you need to talk to a therapist. I’m not letting you go through this all on your own. If you have a problem with this tell me now and I’m gone and I will get myself another partner to work with.”, Hailey said. 

Jay took a deep breath. “You’re right. I talked to Dr. Charles a bit. He scheduled appointments with me twice a week. And I don’t want to be alone. To be honest… the explosion and the coma thing and that I somehow felt and heard everything, that… it brought back memories I never wanted to remember again… I remembered everything from Afghanistan… I talked to Dr. Charles about this… I hid it from Will and the other doctors but I think Will still knew what was going on…”

“Come on. Let’s get inside. Want something special for dinner? I could order Asian or Greek.”, Hailey said. 

“I’m not really hungry.”

“Okay. I’ll order pizza then.”

Hailey and Jay walked inside the house. Jay smiled at her pizza comment and somehow he was happy to be there with her. They went through a lot lately. It was nice to just be at home and chill. 

They spent the evening on the couch eating pizza and watching Netflix. Both fell asleep in each other’s arms that night. 

In the morning Hailey woke up still in Jay’s arm. Her head rested on his chest. It was so quiet in the house that she heard his heart beating. The chest slowly moved up and down as he breathed. She felt so happy in that moment. All she ever wanted was this. She had a great time with Adam too but this felt different. It felt better. It felt right. 

“Good morning, Hailey.”, he said. She didn’t even notice he was already awake. 

“Good morning.”, she slowly sat upright. “I hope you had a good night sleep and it wasn’t too uncomfortable.”

“No, it was perfect.”

Hailey cleaned the living room. There were still pizza boxes and empty glasses all over the table from last night. Even Netflix was still on and showing the ‘ _ Hey are you still here _ ’ screen. She switched it off. Jay was in the bathroom getting changed. 

She wanted to make breakfast but realized she didn’t know what he ate in the mornings. She decided to just make coffee and wait for him to come back to the kitchen. 

After half an hour he was still not back and Hailey decided to check on him. She knocked on the bathroom door. “Jay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a moment.”, he answered. 

Jay looked in the mirror. His cuts were healed, only pinkish new skin showed that there was an injury. His arm hurt a lot but he ignored it. He didn’t want to go back to the hospital just a day after finally getting home. 

Yes, home.

He accepted that he needed help and he was happy that Hailey was there for him. He walked back to the kitchen. “Sorry Hailey. Getting dressed with this arm is not that simple.”

“Yeah, just wanted to make sure everything was alright.”, she smiled at him. 

“Sure. We should probably get to my house and get me some clothes if I’m to stay here longer.”

“Yes, we need to do that. First do you want anything for breakfast?”

“No, just coffee please.”

Hailey poured some fresh coffee in a mug and gave it to him. 

Hailey and Jay drove to his house. He entered and was shocked to see how he had left it the morning of the stakeout. 

“Oh… sorry. I didn’t have time to clean up…”, he said slightly embarrassed. Dried up coffee mugs were standing on the table, two empty beer bottles were next to it. A couple dirty plates were there too. His nightgown along with used underwear were hanging over a chair. 

“I’m so sorry you have to see this. I’m usually not that dirty… That case…”, Jay started but Hailey stopped him. 

“It’s alright. Go get clothes and I’m gonna clean up a little bit.”

“Thanks.”, he walked back to his bedroom. Hailey stayed in the open living room / kitchen area. She put away the empty bottles, put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and switched it on. She put the dirty clothes in the washing machine in the bathroom. She was impressed by how fast she knew where everything was in his little apartment.

She had only been there once before but she loved it. 

A while later he got everything he needed and both left for her house again. 


	4. Chapter 4

It was Saturday evening. The past two days had been uneventful. Most of the day Hailey and Jay watched Netflix and went out for dinner. It was Hailey’s last weekend before going back to work - desk duty. Jay still had to stay at home. He was at the hospital the day before and Will told him to take it slow because the arm was still swollen and there was some redness. 

The previous night he’d shared the bed with Hailey. Both didn’t want to rush anything and wanted to take it slow but Jay felt like he needed someone. He quickly got used to the fact of living with Hailey. He liked it. 

They were sitting on the couch eating popcorn watching  _ Shadowhunters _ . 

“Is it just me or is it really warm in here all the sudden?”, Jay asked. 

“Humm, I’m still cold. Could actually use another blanket.”, Hailey said and looked at Jay. 

“Here, take mine.”, he covered Hailey with his blanket. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because your cheeks are glowing and it’s really not that warm in here for you to just be wearing a t-shirt.”, Hailey put her hand on Jay’s forehead. 

“Damn… You’re burning up. I think maybe we should call Will.”, Hailey expected him to complain and not listen to her, like he always does, but it was different this time. 

“Probably… Yes.”

“Shit.”, Hailey sprung up and dialed Will’s number on her phone. “He’s not answering…”

“Ambulance…”, he said and his eyes rolled back into his head. 

“Nooo, not again! Shit!”, Hailey swore while dialing  _ 911 _ and getting a cool pack from the freezer. 

“911 - What’s your emergency?”, a lady on the phone answered. 

“This is Detective Hailey Upton with the Intelligence Unit. I need an ambulance at my house immediately! Officer unconscious!”, Hailey practically yelled into her phone. She put the cool pack on Jay’s forehead. 

“Ambulance is on its way.” 

Not 10 minutes later two EMTs stood in front of her door. She let them inside and told them what happened. 

“He has a high fever. It could be from his injured arm. We need to get him to Med.”, one EMT said. 

_ Oh really? I knew that too… _ Hailey thought. 

They put Jay onto a stretcher and took him to the ambulance. 

“I’m gonna go with you.”

“Sure, hop on.”

Hailey got inside and sat down. One of the EMTs closed the doors and drove to Chicago Med. The EMT in the back with Hailey and Jay placed a breathing mask on Jay and gave him fluids. 

Hailey texted Will that they were on their way to the hospital. She still couldn’t get a hold of him. 

At the ER they shoved Jay into a examination room. Hailey followed them and waited outside the glass doors of the room. She knew she couldn’t go inside but she wanted to see everything. 

Dr. Choi walked past her and looked at Jay. “Get me an x-ray of his arm and book an OR. I think I know what’s wrong.”, he told his assistance. 

Jay slowly woke up again. He groaned and was a bit confused. 

“Jay, you’re at the hospital.”

“Hailey?”, he asked and looked up. 

“Shh. Keep calm. She’s waiting outside. Jay, you have a high fever. We need to run some tests.”

“Can she come inside?”, he asked. 

“Sure.”, Dr. Choi waved Hailey inside. 

About an hour later they had done some tests on Jay and got his fever down a bit. Dr. Choi went inside and told him what was going on. 

Hailey took Jay’s good hand. 

“We ran some tests and my assumption is sadly true. Your bone is infected. It is really rare after plate osteosynthesis. Symptoms are fever, redness and swelling, which you show. The x-ray confirmed it.”

He showed Jay and Hailey a x-ray photo on his tablet. 

“We need to remove the plates in surgery and put in new ones. We also need to remove the infection from the bone and maybe a bit of the muscles and tissues.”

“So I could still lose my arm?”

“Sadly yes. It’s early in the infection and if we treat it now we can hopefully save the arm but if anything goes wrong or we can’t remove everything or if it comes back, we need to think about an amputation. I’m sorry, Jay.”

Hailey was shocked. She thought it was all gonna be better now but it was all starting again. 

“We should do the surgery as soon as possible. We need to get your fever down a little bit more. Did you eat anything in the last couple hours?”

“Some popcorn…”

“Okay, I’d say we get you ready and do it right away. I’ll be back in about half an hour.”, Dr. Choi left the room again. 

“Hailey. Another surgery… I don’t know if I can do this again”, Jay looked at her and never let go of her hand.

“Jay, I’m so sorry… I know you can do it! It’ll be over in no time, okay. I’ll stay here with you all the time. I’m not leaving you.”, Hailey was concerned about him. She would rather go through this herself.

Dr. Choi got Jay ready and got him into the OR. Hailey followed him until she wasn’t allowed further anymore. She decided to wait for the doctor in front of the doors they’d just gone through. 

Five lonely long hours later Dr. Choi walked out and towards Hailey. She jumped up from her chair. 

“He is going to be alright. We were able to replace the plates with new ones and cleaned out the infection without having to take out too much tissue.”, he told her.

“Thank you so much! Can I see him?”

“He is in recovery right now and still under. Follow me.”

Dr. Choi took her to the recovery room.

Hailey sat next to Jay and waited. 

She waited until he finally woke up. His arm was back in a heavy cast. 

“Next time I’ll be the one getting seriously hurt, okay? I’m gonna wrap you in bubble wrap and leave you in the car.”, Hailey laughed while tears started streaming down her cheeks. “I’m just so happy you’re gonna be alright.”

Jay’s lips escaped a quiet ‘Hmm’. 

“Jay?”

He slowly opened his eyes. “Hailey…”

“Yeah. I’m here.”, she took his hand.

“I love you.”, he said quietly, still full with anesthetics and half sleeping.

“I love you, too!”, she smiled. “Sleep a little bit more. I’m not going to leave you.”

Two hours later, almost 6 am, Jay was in a normal hospital room and wide awake. Hailey didn’t leave his side for a second and she also didn’t sleep any minute that night. 

Will walked inside the room. “Jay! I just heard! Are you alright?”

“Yeah. All good.”, he told his brother. 

“I tried to call you and texted you. Where were you?”, Hailey asked. 

“I had an appointment and an emergency. I didn’t have my phone with me. I’m sorry.”, Will said. 

“Hailey took good care of me. So did Dr. Choi.”, Jay said. 

“That is good. He just told me. We’re gonna keep you here overnight. Hailey can pick you up tomorrow.”, Will said. 

“I’m gonna call Voight later and tell him that I need one more day off.”, Hailey mentioned. 

“Please don’t tell him about this…”, Jay insisted. Hailey nodded. 

“Are you alright?”, Voight asked Hailey after she told him she wouldn’t be coming in on Monday.

“Yeah, I’m good. Will just suggested I take another day of resting.”, she lied. 

“Okay, no problem. How is Halstead doing?”, he asked. 

“He is doing good.”

“Do you know when he can be back at work?”

“Uh… actually I don’t know. Sorry. But I can tell you more on Tuesday when I’m back.”, Hailey said. 

She hung up and walked back to Jay. Will was still with his brother. 

“Do you know when Jay can be back to work? Voight just asked.”, Hailey questioned Will.

“If the infection is gone and there’s no other complication he could be back next week on desk duty. Jay should be able to at least do some work.”, Will answered.

“That sounds great!”, Jay smiled. 

“Yes! I only need to keep you home alone for four days.”, she joked.

“Oh come on.”, all three started laughing. 

“Sooo…”, Will started “You two live together now?”, he blushed.

“No!”, both said at the same time. 

“Sorry I asked.”, Will laughed and left the room. 

Hailey spent the whole Sunday with Jay and only left at night to sleep at home. In the morning she went back to Jay after he had some final tests done. Will gave him an all clear to go home. His arm should be good now without any more complications. Jay should take it easy that week and come back Friday to get a fresh cast on. 

The Monday after would be his first day back at work. 

He was still living with Hailey and by now they slept next to each other every night. Nothing had happened between them yet - no kissing, no sex, just hugging and watching Netflix in each other’s arms. They wanted to take it slow and with Jay having basically moved in and sleeping in the same bed it was already pretty fast, some would say. None of the team members knew about them so far. Jay and Hailey actually had no idea what they were at the moment. 

Best friends? For sure! Lovers? Yes. Partners? Always. Roommates? Maybe a little bit more than that. 

Both didn’t feel the need of talking about it now. They felt happy with how they were and they didn’t want Voight to know they were living together because he didn’t tolerate couples in his Unit. 


	5. Chapter 5

It was Monday morning and Jay’s first day back at work - desk duty. 

Will changed out the cast the previous Friday and gave him the all clear. He also took a look at Hailey, who had her first week back at work. It all looked good for her. One more week and then she was allowed to get back to full duty. 

Jay and Hailey walked upstairs into the Bullpen. Everyone was already waiting for them. 

“Welcome back, Jay!”, everyone said and came to hug him. 

“Thanks guys. I’m happy to be back. It’s been a rough month.”, Jay said. 

Voight came out of his office. “I’m happy you’re back Jay! I have a case for us.”, he waved a file in the air and gave it to Kim. She presented it to the team: 

“Beatrice and Samantha Smith, age 18, twin sisters from the South Shore. Mother called in Sunday around midday filing a missings person report. Both were at a party Saturday and were supposed to be at home by two in the morning but never came home. She said the girls were hanging out with two black men that seem suspicious to the mom. I ran the two men through our system: Antony Miller and Mario West. Both have a very long record of drug possession and violence. Both are 23 years old. The mom stated that the twins were at a house party with them and now were nowhere to be found.”

“Okay. Atwater, Rojas, check out the place of the party. See if anyone saw something. Kim and Adam, go talk to the mom again. Upton and Halstead, dig into the girls’ social media and into the men, see if you can find any location where they could be.”, Voight instructed the team which got to work right away. 

“Hey Sergeant!”, Hailey yelled into the office. Voight walked to her desk. Jay was already standing next to her. 

“I was digging through their social media accounts and both girls hang out with them alot. They posted party pictures every weekend. This one is interesting.”, Hailey showed them a picture of the twins where Beatrice was drinking beer and Samantha had a white pill on her tongue. 

“One of them is doing drugs?”, Voight asked. 

“Looks like it. I have not seen Beatrice do drugs in any of the pictures but this is not the only one of Samantha doing it…”, Hailey answered. 

In that moment Rojas and Atwater walked upstairs.

“I think we got something.”, Atwater stated. Everyone listened. 

“Talked to the guys that own the house where the party was. One girl was there with her boyfriend. She said she saw the twins leaving with the suspects around midnight on Saturday. They always either hangout at a small beach near the house or in an abandoned warehouse. She thought they were heading to one of those places.”

Jay jerked when Kevin said  _ warehouse _ . It brought back the moment of the explosion. His arm began to hurt and he left for the kitchen. Hailey’s look followed him worrying what happened. 

Voight nodded at Hailey to follow Jay and see what was going on.

She followed him to the kitchen and closed the door. 

“You alright?”, she asked him. He sat down on the couch and didn’t know what to do. He looked like he was sweating and close to freaking out.

“Hailey. I…”, he started but couldn’t get more out . His breathing got faster.

“Hey! Hey, listen to me! Jay! Nothing is going to happen to you. You’re safe here. Look at me.”, she sat next to him and hugged him. 

He was about to have a panic attack.

“Take deep breaths. Everything is going to be alright, okay. No one will hurt you anymore.”, she kept on talking to him in a calm voice.

He calmed down after a bit and said apologised. 

“It’s alright. Come on. Let’s get back out there.”, she said. He nodded and both went back to their desks. 

“Everything alright?”, Atwater asked. 

“Yeah.”, Hailey answered for them. Jay went to his desk and buried his face in his monitor without saying anything. 

“We’re heading to the beach. If you find anything else, call us.”, Rojas said and left with Kevin. 

About an hour later Platt walked upstairs and informed Jay and Hailey that Patrol just saw the two suspects walking out of an old warehouse down on the South Side. 

“Hailey… That’s where the girls must be.”, Jay said. 

“Maybe. Let’s call Voight.”

“No. It’ll be too late. We gotta go there.”

“Are you out of your mind? We are on desk duty. It’s your first day back!”, Hailey yelled at him.

Jay held up the car key. “Either you drive or I’m gonna do it myself.”

“Dammit!”, she swore, took the keys and both ran downstairs into the garage. She hated this idea. She didn’t want to go through it again but this time the life of two young girls was at stake. She wanted to save them too.

Driving up to the warehouse, Hailey called Voight while Jay jumped out of the car and carefully looked around and through the windows. 

“Voight will be here in 10 minutes.”, she told Jay, following him. 

“Look. The girls are in there. Alone.”, he said looking through a window. Hailey looked as well. 

“We gotta wait.”

“Patrol officers said the men left the building. There is no one in there.”

“Maybe not. Maybe it’s more than two. We don’t know.”, Hailey wanted to walk back to the car but Jay took his gun in his left hand and walked towards the door.

“Can you even shoot with your left hand?”, she questioned him. 

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”, he said and slipped into the warehouse. 

“Help us!”, a girl’s voice came from the back of the building. “Help!”

Hailey and Jay walked towards them. Before entering another room Jay looked at his clock. 

_ 5 more minutes until Voight will be here. _

He nodded at Hailey and she was ready to go in. Both were holding their guns in front of them and walked in. 

“DON’T shoot!”, one yelled crying. The other girl was laying on the ground. 

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re police. I’m Hailey, this is my partner Jay. Are you okay?”, Hailey put her gun away and walked towards the sitting girl. 

“Beatrice is unconscious. I don’t know what they did to her. Help her!”, Samantha cried out.

Jay walked over to Beatrice and checked her out. “No visible wounds. I’ve got a pulse.”

Hailey cut the ties around Samantha’s wrists and helped her get up. 

“What now?”, Hailey asked looking at Jay. Usually Jay would just pick up the girl and carry her outside but he couldn’t do that with only one arm. 

He took his radio: “This is 5021 George. I need an ambulance at my location. Two injured.”

“Ambulance is on its way.”, they heard the woman on the radio respond. 

“I’ll stay with her. Get outside and call Voight.”, he said.

“I’m not leaving you alone.”, Hailey said. 

“Oh my… Kiss and make out already. This is horrible. Why is an injured officer even allowed on the field?”, Samantha snapped at them. Before Hailey could say anything Samantha closed her eyes and fell backwards on the ground. 

“Samantha?!”, she yelled and rushed to her. “Lost consciousness.”

Suddenly they heard a car outside the warehouse. 

“If this is not Voight or any other team member, we’re dead.”, Hailey said. 

“We’re dead anyways.”, Jay answered her.

“What?”

“Voight will kill us.”

“True.”

Hailey called Voight again. He didn’t answer the phone this time.

The first door opened and they heard someone shout “CPD! Anyone here?”

It was Kevin!

“Back here!”, Jay yelled. The sirens of the ambulance were also getting louder by the second. 

Kevin and the rest of the team walked in to the back room to find Hailey, Jay and the twins there. 

“Are you alright?”, Atwater asked. He didn’t even question finding Hailey and Jay there. 

“Yeah. Girls are unconscious. Beatrice has been for a while and Samantha lost consciousness about a minute ago.”, Hailey told. 

“Ambulance is here.”, Adam walked in. 

“Any sign of Miller and West?”, Jay asked. 

“Voight got them. They were just walking by when we came. He’s taking them to the station now.” 

The EMTs took the girls to the hospital while the team went back to the station. Voight called Jay and Hailey into his office. Atwater and Rojas started questioning the suspects. 

Voight stared at them before saying anything. He needed to collect his thoughts and didn’t know where to start. 

“What were you thinking?”, he started. Jay wanted to speak but Voight didn’t let him: “I’m talking now. First: Jay if you have a death wish just go and do it already but don’t risk the lives of your partner and other people! You were severely injured just four months ago and just last month I thought Fire was recovering your dead body from that warehouse! You had two major surgeries! I did not think you’d go off trying to save two girls after just a couple hours back on the job. You are on desk duty and that usually means something! You can’t just go out there risking everything!”, Voight yelled.

“And second: Hailey. I thought better of you! Stop him the next time he does something like this! He’s your partner! You also have a responsibility for him! You know that, right? The girls would have survived the ten more minutes we needed to get to the warehouse.

I don’t want you out on the field again for the next weeks until a third doctor, not Will or anyone at Med, clears you for duty! Understood?”

“Sargent…”, Jay started.

“What?”, he hissed at him. Voight was really pissed at both at the moment. 

“I had another surgery on my arm a weeks ago. The bone got infected. They replaced the plates and screws… I was still at risk of losing my arm… I just wanted to save those girls. I didn’t think you could get to the warehouse that fast. I’m sorry.”, Jay said. 

“Voight. This is not just on Jay. I know I should have stopped him but I wanted to save them, too. And I called you as soon as we were at the warehouse. I just had to follow Jay. I didn’t want him to go in alone. I’m alright. I’m in no pain anymore. I can go back into the field. And Jay… despite everything, he is just doing his job.”, Hailey said. 

“Jay why didn’t you tell me about that surgery?”, Voight asked. He calmed down a bit. Now he was just shocked about Jay. His best man was still not completely out of the woods. 

“I didn’t want to worry anyone and Will and Dr. Choi said the surgery went well and it’s gonna be okay. I just want to go back to doing my job. Before the explosion I finally felt normal again. The pain in the shoulder was finally gone. Only that stupid scar is left…”, Jay said. 

Voight took a deep breath.  _ What should he do now?  _ “Alright. You two get to the hospital and see how the girls are doing. Question them. This stays in the house! You two are officially only on desk duty. Just no heavy field work for the next week, okay?”, Voight told them.

“Okay.”    
“Thank you, Sargent.”

Hailey and Jay drove to Med. Walking inside they got greeted by a worried Will. “Jay. Hailey. What are you doing here? Everything alright?”, he asked, ready to help his brother.

“We’re here on PD business. We need to speak with the two girls that came in today. Beatrice and Samantha Smith.”, Jay said. 

“Oh. Both are stable. Came in about an hour ago. Both had a lot of alcohol and drugs in their system and both have some bruises on their wrists. I think only Beatrice is awake right now. We’re still waiting on some test results.”, Will told them and lead them to the room. 

“Beatrice Smith. This is Jay Halstead and I’m Hailey Upton. We’re with Chicago PD. Is it okay to ask you a few questions?”, Hailey asked. Both stood at the foot of Beatrice’ bed. She just nodded. 

“What can you tell us about Saturday night? How’d you end up at the warehouse?”, Jay asked. 

“We were at the party. My sister was doing drugs with Mario again… she always does. I only drink beer or cocktails there. I remember Antony coming to her and talking to her. I was busy dancing with some random dude. Next thing I saw was Samantha falling and I rushed to her… She told me she just tripped but I knew she was high. Mario and Tony told us we could have some more fun at the warehouse. I had no idea why we would want to go there but we did. In the car, Mario was driving, Antony suddenly held a gun to our faces and yelled at Samantha to tell him where his drugs were… I had no idea what was going on.”, Beatrice said. 

“Where did Samantha get her drugs from?”, Hailey asked. 

“Are we in a lot of trouble?”

“If you help us, we can help you.”, Jay answered. 

“Alright... Usually she gets them from Tony but last week, after coming home from his house, she suddenly had lots more. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want our mom to know about it.”

“Is Antony Samantha’s boyfriend?”

“I don’t think so. We’re all just friends.” 

“Okay. What happened at the warehouse?”

“When we got there they ziptied our hands and led us to the back. I don’t really remember what happened next. I think I passed out. I only remember waking up here.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Do you know how my sister is doing?”

“She’s gonna be fine.”

“And the boys?”

“Both are in custody at the moment. We’ll see what and if they tell us something.” 

Both left the room again and checked if Samantha was already awake. Will and Natalie were in front of her room. “We just got the test results back. It looks like both girls were raped last night.”, Natalie said. 

“Oh no.”, Hailey felt sorry for them. 

“All over some drugs? This can’t be right. There must be more to it.”, Jay presumed. 

“Maybe Atwater and Rojas got something from the boys.”, Hailey hoped. 

“Samantha is not awake yet. Maybe you could come back later.”, Natalie said. 

Jay and Hailey went back to the station. 

“Hey guys. We got some information.”, Jay said walking upstairs. 

Everyone listened: “Both girls were raped presumably by Miller and West. Antony Miller thinks Samantha stole drugs from him. He also had a gun. Beatrice doesn’t remember much or how she passed out. Samantha is not awake yet.”, Hailey told the team. 

“Yeah, we tried to get something out of Antony and Mario but we got nothing.”, Atwater said. 

“There must be something else, boss. Why would the boys rape the girls? As far as we know they were just friends. Samantha got her drugs from Antony.”, Jay said. 

“Yeah, we need to get something out of the boys.”, Rojas said. 

“Yes and we also need to wait for Samantha to wake up. Maybe she can tell us more.”, Hailey said. 

Voight sent everyone back to work and told Hailey and Jay to go home. At first Jay resisted but Voight said: “That is an order! You two did enough for today! Go home.”

Both agreed and Hailey knew only by looking at Jay that he was exhausted. Being at home injured and no action for about a month is hard. This was his first day and it was already nine hours long. 

They got home and both quickly took a shower. Luckily Hailey had two big bathrooms in her house. After that they sat on the couch. 

“What do you wanna watch tonight?”, Jay asked. 

“I heard  _ Sex Education _ is a good one.”, Hailey answered. 

“Really? Well okay.”, Jay switched on the first episode. “You do realize it’s about sex, right?” 

“Yeah? And we’re adults, right?”, Hailey smiled at him and cuddled on his healthy arm. 

After the first episode Jay whispered into her ear. “You know this is kinda turning me on right now.”

Hailey looked at him, smiling. “Shut up and kiss me!”, she sat up and got on his lap. Before he could even react, Hailey was kissing him and Jay liked it. A lot. 

“Hailey.”, he said in between kisses. “I love you.”

“Shut up.”, she said, kissing him more. 

His uninjured hand carefully reached under her shirt. Hailey tried to stop him but then realized that she really wanted this. 

“Bedroom?”

Jay nodded and picked her up. He carried her to the bedroom while she kept kissing him. She had both legs around his waist. He walked over to the bedroom and let her fall onto the bed. He just stood there while Hailey opened and removed Jay’s belt and pulled down his trousers. Jay bent down to kiss her and undressed her. 

“I love you, Hailey Upton.”, he said. 

“I love you, Jay Halstead!”, she answered back and kept on kissing him. 

He was now laying on top of her, kissing her from the neck downwards, chest, belly, every spot got soft kisses from him. 

“Do it.”, she said and he removed her underwear. 

“You sure?”, he didn’t want to rush anything or hurt her. 

“Yes!”

A while later they layed in bed in each other's arms. 

“That was great.”

“Definitely need to repeat that.”, she smiled at him. “Was it alright with your arm?”

“Yeah, I didn’t feel a thing.”, Jay kissed her.

“I’m so glad we’re finally doing this. I have no idea how I could keep my feelings for you to myself for this long.” Hailey was happy.

“After you were with Adam I didn’t even think about having a chance with you so I just tried to keep it professional. And then at the hospital… You walked out without telling me what was on your mind, my heart broke. I was hoping you would say you loved me but I also thought it was just in my mind and you wanted to tell me something different. That moment stayed in my mind the whole time. Every night before bed I kept replaying it in my head…”, Jay confessed. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. You had so much on your mind and it didn’t feel like the right time.”

“I’m just happy we can finally be together.”

Hailey just kissed him.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning they woke up in each other’s arms. “Good morning.”, Jay kissed Hailey’s forehead. She slowly opened her eyes, smiling at him. “Good morning.”

“Hailey…”, he looked at her.

“What? Is something wrong?”, she suddenly sat up and looked at him concerned. 

“We… We didn’t use any protection…”, he felt sorry.

“Yeah.. Don’t worry about that, okay? I’ll just drop you off at the station later and quickly drive to the pharmacy to get the morning-after pill.”, she reassured him it was all good. 

“Okay.”, he smiled at her.

“Would it be so bad if something did happen?”, she asked shyly. 

“Well...No… But we just started dating.”, he answered. It was the first time they referred to each other as a couple. 

“You’re right.” Hailey got up and got dressed. She went to the kitchen to make coffee and waited for Jay to be ready to get to work. She thought a lot about what happened. She loved last night. It was amazing. Of course it was way too early in their relationship but she knew Jay was perfect and she had loved him from the first moment she met him. Whenever they worked with kids, she observed her partner. She loved the way he handled kids and always knew he would be the best father one day. 

It was just wishful thinking. It was a terrible point in time to get pregnant. After what had just happened with Kim and her baby and knowing she’d have to give up her job for a long time, she knew it could not happen now. 

“Just tell Voight I’ll be running late. Don’t say where I’m going.”, she said, dropping Jay off at the police station. 

“Of course. See you in a bit.”, he kissed her goodbye and she drove off.

Hailey was at the pharmacy shortly after and walked inside. She felt uncomfortable for asking for this pill. She felt even worse for taking it. She quickly decided to get a pregnancy test and walked to the cashier. 

“I need the morning-after pill.”, Hailey said. Luckily the cashier was female and just smiled at her. 

“Sure, I just need you to answer some questions.”

Hailey nodded. 

“When did you last have sex?”

“Well, last night... Obviously...”

“Did you use protection?”

“No… We forgot…”

“Alright. When was your last period?” 

“About two weeks ago…”

“Have you taken the emergency contraceptive pill before?”

“No. Never.” 

“Okay.”, she quickly got the pill and rung it up. “That’ll be 40 dollars.”

Hailey was quite shocked by the price of one little pill but she bought it anyway. 

In the car she stared at the box. 

Did she really want to take this? Did she really want to destroy new life if it’s growing inside her? 

She decided to not take the pill and just see what happens. She was aware that people take those pills all the time but she just couldn’t do it. 

Hailey drove back to the station and walked upstairs. 

“Oh great, you’re finally here, Hailey. Is everything alright?”, Adam asked. 

“Yeah, all good! Just had to take care of something real quick.”, she sat on her desk because her chair was occupied by Jay. “Where are we with the case?”, she asked. 

“We still got nothing from West nor Miller. Vanessa and Kevin just went to the hospital to get a statement from Samantha. But we digged a little deeper into them and found out that someone at that party was selling the drugs to Miller. Apparently Miller had a fight with a black guy at the party, right before leaving. A girl saw it happening. It was about those stolen drugs.”, Adam explained. 

“And the guy Miller had a fight with is nowhere to be found.”, Jay added. 

“Time is running out! If we don’t get something soon, we’ll have to release Miller and West and I don’t want that.”, Voight said. 

Kevin and Vanessa jogged up the stairs. 

“We got something.”, Atwater started. 

“Samantha is awake and told us everything. She took the drugs from Miller. Apparently it was arranged with him. She remembers being drugged at the party by him and then she passed out at the warehouse. She woke up feeling uncomfortable and knew immediately that she was raped by one of the guys. But she doesn’t know what is wrong with the drugs or where Miller gets them from. This was something she never asked him or wanted to know.”, Rojas told. 

“Okay…”, Voight thought for a moment, “Jay, come with me. I think I know how to get Miller to talk.”

Jay followed his boss to the interrogation room. 

“Antony Miller.”, Voight and Jay sat across from him. “Your friend Samantha just confessed everything.”

“Shit!”

“You are staring down at a life in prison if you don’t help us now.”, Jay said. 

“Alright. I’m sick of your questions. What do you want to know?”, Miller was sick of being held and questioned for the past 24 hours. 

“You kidnapped and raped two of your friends over some drugs… What is the deal with the third guy? The one you had a fight with at the party?”, Voight asked. 

“That guy… I buy the drugs from him. He wanted them back but I had already sold them to Sam. I thought she would give them back to me when I talked to her…”

“Talk to her? You drugged her and put a gun into her face!”, Jay said. 

“Yeah… Talking… That’s what I said. Anyway, when she didn’t want to give them back, Mario thought we could do something with the twins. Bea was already unconscious at that moment and Sam was close to passing out. We thought if we couldblackmail Sam by telling her we would rape Bea, she would just give me the drugs before anything happened… Sadly Sam passed out... We have needs, you know. And they were just laying there.”

“Oh my God.”, Jay buried his face into his good hand. “Please tell me you’re joking!?”

Voight stood up and slammed both fists on the table in front of Miller: “I want a name right now! Or Imma throw you down in the cage and…”, he started yelling.

“Daniel Lee!”, Miller yelled back. He suddenly looked really scared of Voight. 

“Thank you.”, Jay said and guided Voight out of the room. 

“Daniel Lee.”, Jay pinned his photo on their wall, “He is in our system for drug possession but that was seven years ago. We don’t have a current address or phone number.”

“Anything off of facial recognition? Was he at the party?”, Kim asked.

“Yeah. He was there but that still doesn’t give us a clue on where to find him.”, Jay answered. 

“Let’s talk to the girls again and see if they know more about Lee.”, Adam said. 

He came back about two hours later with a location on Daniel Lee. The team picked him up and brought him to the cage. 

Jay stood in the background while Voight started questioning Daniel: 

“Tell us about your business with Antony Miller.”

“Well… I know him…”, Daniel started.

“Let’s cut that shit and start talking! We know that you sell drugs to Miller and you wanted to get some back from him. Why?”, Jay stepped forward. 

“Okay okay. I sell drugs to him. I’m in trouble! I was supposed to give that load to someone else. James Gray. He threatened to kill me if I didn't give him the drugs by next weekend.”, Daniel started talking. He was scared and just wanted to get out of trouble. He confessed he hated dealing drugs but it was the only way he could make money. 

“Alright. Set up a date with Gray and tell him you got the drugs. We will arrest him as soon as you give him the drugs.”, Voight said. 

“Okay… And then I won’t be going to prison?”, Daniel asked. 

“We’ll see about that.”

The deal was happening the next afternoon. Voight had warned Jay and Hailey to stay in the surveillance van. If one of them walked out he’d fire them. 

Both knew he would never fire them so easily but they understood they were still on desk duty and really had to stand back. Jay was happy that Voight let them do field work anyway. 

The van where Hailey and Jay were was parked on the other side of the road. Both had perfect view of the scene and Daniel. 

Adam and Kim were walking around, looking like tourists, while Voight, Atwater and Rojas were in their cars on the side of the street and waited for the exchange to happen. 

Daniel was standing around, wired up, waiting for James Gray to come. 

“James is coming from the left.”, Jay said through the radio. 

“Alright. Everyone stand down until we see James taking the drugs.”, Voight instructed. 

“Daniel! My friend.”, James walked up to Daniel. “Do you have what I want?”

“Yeah. It’s all here in my bag.”, Daniel said. 

“Great.” James struck a hand out and waited for Daniel to hand him the bag. 

“We’re good after that, right?”

“If everything I want is in there, then yeah. Sure.”

“Alright.”, Daniel slowly handed him the bag. 

James took the bag and opened it. “Looks like everything is in here.”, he dug deeper in the bag and realized those were fake drugs. 

“What is this? Are you kidding me?”, James suddenly drew a gun on Daniel. 

“Gun! Get James!”, Voight yelled into the radio and his team jumped out of their cars and approached James and Daniel. 

Jay and Hailey sat upright in their van and watched the action go down. 

Daniel was running away but Rojas tackled him down. Adam and Atwater arrested James. Luckily no one got shot. 

On Friday evening they celebrated the ending of the case at Molly’s. Hailey sat next to Jay while Adam and Kim were sitting opposite of them. Everyone had a bottle of beer in their hand. 

“I’m so glad both of you are back!”, Kim said. 

“Yeah, it’s great to be back.”, Hailey smiled. 

“I can’t wait to be back, too!”, Jay said. 

“So how is your arm? When will you be back on the field with us?”, Adam asked.

“Well… After having another surgery two weeks ago and pulling the stunt yesterday of going out there with Hailey on our own… It might still take a while. But the arm is good. Healing and all. Will said I can get the cast off in two weeks and then I have to get my muscles back to normal but I think after those two weeks I’ll be fully back.”, Jay answered.

“That sounds great! Except for the surgery…”, Kim said. 

At around 2AM Adam offered to drive Jay home but Hailey covered and said she would do it. None of their colleagues knew that they were living together nor that they were officially dating. 

At home they went straight to bed but Jay was wide awake. 

“Did you take that pill?”, Jay asked, staring at the ceiling.

Hailey was quiet for a moment. Was she going to lie to him now or should she just tell the truth? “No…”

He turned around and looked at her. “Okay.”

“Are you mad now?”, she also turned and both were looking into each other’s eyes.

“I love you, Hailey. If something happened that night, I’d be alright with it.”, he put his hand on her belly. 

“Maybe we can just repeat that night and  _ accidentally  _ forget the condom on your night stand.”, she said. 

Jay grabbed Hailey, turned her on her back while jumping on top of her. “Alright.”

In between kisses Hailey asked “Are we even ready for this?”

“We’re 31. It’ll be too late if we wait much longer.”

“You’re right.”

“Just say it and I’ll stop.”, Jay noticed Hailey being unsure about this. He stopped kissing her and sat up. “Look, you’d have the biggest part in this. If you don’t want to get pregnant now or in the near future I understand. We have condoms right here.”

“It’s not that… I’d love to have a child. And after our first night together I knew you’d be the one. I don’t want anyone else to be my baby’s father. You would be such a great one.” 

Jay kissed Hailey. “I love you so much!”

She pulled Jay back down. “Just do it. Let’s see what happens sooner or later.” 

Two weeks later Jay visited Will at the hospital. He’d finally get the cast off. 

“Good morning, Will.”, Jay greeted his brother and sat on the bed. “I can’t wait to get that thing off today! It’s so itchy.”

“I get that. Let’s get it off, do an X-Ray and I might give you a splint to wear while at work. Don’t worry, you can go back to full duty if everything is alright.”, Will said. 

While cutting the cast off Will asked: “So… You and Hailey, huh?”

“Yeah. We’re officially together. No one at work knows and I want it to keep it like that for now.”, Jay smiled. 

When he was finally free of the cast he slowly moved his hand and his arm. 

“Any pain?”, Will asked. 

“No. Feels a bit weird after having a cast there for so long…”, Jay looked at his arm and saw the incision for the first time. He had two pinkish spots near the elbow and a 10 centimeters-long scar from his wrist up to the middle of the arm. 

“Guess they will always remind me from now on…”, Jay added. 

“It’s normal for your arm to feel like this. And the incisions look good. Fully healed. I’ll quickly take an x-ray and see how the bones and the plates are.”, Will said. 

After Will was finished, he handed Jay the splint and released him. He was cleared for work. Jay walked back to the car. Hailey was already waiting for him. He got inside. 

“Nice to see you walking around without that cast.”, Hailey smiled at him. 

“It feels nice!”, Jay was happy. “Did you see Natalie?”

“No…”

“It’s alright.”

“Yeah I think I’ll know if I’m pregnant or not.. I don’t think I am right now… It’s probably way too early to know.”, Hailey started the car and drove home. 

After work Jay sat down next to Hailey on the couch. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting weird all day…”, Jay was concerned about her. 

“I’m alright. It’s just…”

“We don’t have to try anything… We can use protection and just try another time. Like in a year or two. I’m good with that. I don’t want to pressure you into anything. I just want you to be happy.”

“That’s it. I want this. I would love to start a family but I also don’t want to lose my job… You saw what happened with Kim… I don’t think I’ll be able to sit in the office or call center for months and be home for months and then? What if I don’t get back to my old self?”, Hailey buried her face in her hands. She knew she’d have to give up one dream. It’s either career or family. Having both, pregnant and working in this Unit, would never happen. 

“Maybe we should wait, then?”, Jay hugged her tightly. 

“But then my clock will run out sooner or later… And I don’t want to have a baby when I’m 45 and when she graduates high school we’ll be like 65 and everyone will think we’re her grandparents.”

“That won’t happen! We still have 15 years until we’re 45!”, Jay giggled. 

“Are you laughing at me?”, Hailey looked at him, laughing herself and hitting him in the stomach. 

“You’re just so cute.”

“This is serious!”

“I know.”, Jay smiled at her. “And I’m fine with whatever decision you make, alright? Just tell me next time to put a condom on or not.”

“Can’t you like help me with this decision?”, she asked. 

“How?”

“What’s your take on this? You never told me if you even want a child, yet alone want one with me.”

“Listen Hailey. I love you and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you! And yes, I want to have a family with you. Building it now or in some years, I don’t care. And if I had a ring here right now I would ask the question but I don’t.”

After that they went to bed, keeping the protection hidden in the drawer next to the bed.

About a month later everyone was at the Bullpen, Rojas was presenting a new case they caught the night before. Hailey sat on her chair but was totally zoned out. She’d been feeling sick all night and barely slept. Jay was sitting on her desk, as usual, listening carefully. Hailey looked around, everyone would notice her going to the toilet. She just hoped it was a stomach bug and she wouldn’t throw up in the office. 

She wished. 

Moments later she felt the vomit coming up. She covered her mouth and ran to the toilet where she emptied her stomach. 

Everyone looked at Jay. 

“What?”, he asked but he was pretty concerned about his girlfriend. Running after her, following her to the ladies toilet, would look wrong so he let Kim run after her instead. 

“What is going on with Hailey?”, Adam asked. 

“Ehm… Well…”, Jay started but didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to tell everyone they were together. He didn’t know if Hailey would approve. 

“Whatever it is, Jay, get her home when she is back from the bathroom. She should rest. It’s alright, we don’t need you for today. It’s just a small case.”, Voight said. 

“Okay. Thanks.”, Jay walked out to corridor and stopped before the bathroom doors. 

“Hailey? Are you alright?”, Kim stood outside the bathroom stalls. Kim only heard her vomit. She felt sorry for her. 

“I’m alright.”, Hailey said quietly. 

“Can I come in?”, Kim asked but Hailey was emptying her insides again. 

Kim slowly opened the door to find Hailey sitting on the floor with her head over the toilet. Kim got down to her and tied Hailey’s hair back. 

“It’s alright. Let it all out.”

“I think I might be pregnant…”, Hailey confessed. 

“That… it’s wonderful!”, Kim was happy but at the same time she wanted to start crying because it was only three months ago that she’d lost her baby.

“Can you get Jay?”, Hailey looked at her colleague exhausted. Kim nodded. 

“I’m already here.”, Jay stepped inside. He heard everything. “Sorry.”

“Jay…”, Hailey started. 

“Voight told me to get you home. Whenever you feel up to drive, I’ll get you home.”, Jay said. “Thank you Kim, for taking care of her.”

When Jay and Hailey made it home, Hailey went right back to the bathroom. Before Jay followed her, he went to the bedroom. He knew that Hailey kept a pregnancy test in her night stand drawer. He got it and walked to the bathroom. 

“Can I come in?”, he asked knocking on the door. 

“Yeah.”

He walked inside to find Hailey sitting next to the toilet. He sat next to her and handed her the box. “Take it.”

“Do you think I’m pregnant?”

“You don’t?”

“I do… Could you wait outside?”

Jay got out and closed the door behind him. 

Hailey sat on the toilet and tried her best to hit the stick and not her whole hand. After a moment she looked at the pregnancy test and waited.

Jay waited outside the door. He’d never been this nervous in his life. Whatever result the test had, he would always be with Hailey. The minutes they waited felt like ages. 

Hailey finally opened the door. She had the little pregnancy test in her hands and stared down on it. 

“What does it say?”, Jay asked. 

“I’m pregnant!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently working on a follow-up fanfiction! :)


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